Abbott Laboratories Q2 Beat On Improved Medical Diagnostics Sales

Abbott Laboratories Q2 Beat On Improved Medical Diagnostics Sales

Sales of medical diagnostics and vascular products in the second quarter helped Abbott Laboratories beat expectations. As a result, shares are trading up on Wednesday. Revenue rose roughly 2% to more than $5.5 billion. Abbott earned $0.30 cents a share in the second quarter, exactly the same as one year ago. Abbott spokesperson Scott Stoffel said, “Our gross margins were better than some expected due to underlying improvement in diagnostics and vascular products." But, taxes on earnings more than doubled to $277 million. Nonetheless, CEO Miles D. White said he is optimistic going into the second half of this year and said will continue to focus on cost saving efforts. TheStreet's Julia Sun reports from New York.